Antifriction door-skid.



I. A. LAKE.

ANTIFRIOTION DOOR SKID. APPLICATION IILIID 11mm. 1914.

1,124,033, Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

llVVENTOR [raw/m9 flj aiie A TTORIVEVS' THE NORRIS PETERS c0 PHOTD-LITHQ, WASNINB VON. u. C.

UNIED TATE PATENT QIFFIQO IRVING A. LAKE, 01? NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, OF ONE-HALF TO EMILY L. LAKE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ANTIFBICTION DOOR-SKID.

Application filed June 4, 1914:.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownv that I, IRVING A. LAKE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of the Bronx, in the county of Bronx and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Antifriction Door-Skid, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to an improved anti-friction or glide door skid adapted for use in connection with freight cars or the like having sliding doors, so as to be interposed with relation to the doors and articles packed in the car in order to permit the door to be more readily opened and without the necessity of breaking or destroying the door and injuring the contents of the car.

WVith the above and other objects in view, the invention resides in the peculiar combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed, it being also an object to provide a device which is simple in construction, durable and eflicient in operation and not likely to get out of working order.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a freight car with its door open at one side and with the improvement applied in the doorway; Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of a portion of the car and skid applied thereto, the door of the car being closed; Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of co-acting portions of the skid and door; Fig. 4 is an end elevation of a bearing member carried by the skid; Fig. 5 is a front elevation partly in section of a fragmentary portion of a guide; Fig. dis a horizontal sectional view of a portion of one of the guides.

l-leretofore much inconvenience has been experienced in the opening of the doors of freight cars and particularly sliding doors, due to the fact that when articles were packed therein they would become displaced during transit and would be forced against the door in such a manner that the same could be opened only with considerable difficu lty and generally in such a manner as to Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915 Serial No. 842,905.

result in the destruction of the door. The present invention is designed to overcome these difficulties and in illustrating the structureand application thereof a fragmentary portion 10 of a freight car is shown having suitable guideways 11 for a sliding door 12 adapted to slide over the doorway 13, the frame of which is indicated by the numeral 1 1. A skid frame 15 is fitted in the doorway and said frame preferably comprises suitable spaced vertical boards 16 reinforced by cross boards or braces 17 so-as to form a rectangular frame. At spaced points vertically of the frame a plurality of horizon tal strips or runners 18 are secured to further rigidify the frame and provide attaching and supporting means for the guides or raceways 19 carrying at suitably spaced intervals a plurality of ball bearings 20 constituting anti-friction members. A frame constructed as described when placed beween the articles packed in the car and the door when the latter is closed, are caused to be jammed so tight by the jarring of the car and the bracing thereof against the door, that the door is permitted to be slid open with greater facility and ease and without the necessity of injuring or breaking the door.

The particular construction of the guides or raceways 19 is shown in the detail views and it will be observed that the guides are preferably made of sheet metal bent to provide ball receiving portions 21 accommodating the balls 20 and of a curvature slightly exceeding 180 so as to prevent displacement of the balls. Elongated strips of sheet metal are employed for constructing the guides or raceways but they may be cast or otherwise formed and in the present instance are shown with their longitudinal edges bent back as shown at 22 and then outward as shown at 23 to provide flanges which are apertured for the attachment of the guides to the strips or runners 18 by the fastening means or screws 2%. The halls are thus retained in position as well as hori- Zontal rolling movement but are normally retained at equi-distantly spaced points by stamping out the raceways as shown at 25, the stamped out portions being separated and bent upwardly in opposite directions to receive the balls therebetween and retain the same against movement by restricting the sizes of the raceways at two points while the balls are held from displacement at the ends of the guides by inwardly projecting portions 26 bent or otherwise formed to provide stop members.

In practice, the device is slid in the door frame and the door at spaced points vertically is preferably provided with a plurality of bearing plates 27 preferably of metal for contact of the balls 20 therewith, and even though the frame is forced outward against the door the latter can be freely opened without undue friction and without injury thereto. During the 0pening of the door the balls which are previously spaced apart and held in the relation shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, will rotate and may have slight horizontal rolling movement to further sustain the pressure and reduce the friction between the parts. The strips 27 will prevent the balls from bearing against the inner face of the top and binding in the wood of the door, thus permitting the door to be opened with greater facility. Also, as the ball receiving portions 21 are disposed in contact with the faces of the strips or runners 18, the pressure exerted against the balls will be sustained by the strips and no strain will be exerted on the flanges of the guides so that the latter may be made of sheet metal or other light material to efficiently serve the purpose intended.

While the device has been illustrated in connection with a door skid as applied to freight cars of the usual box car type, novelty is held to reside in the particular construction of the bearings constituting antifriction members to be used for supporting movable drawers in cabinets or other movable-partsbetween which anti-friction members are employed. In adapting the device to the various uses constituting inherent functionsparticularly of the bearings, it will be observed that owing to the fact that pressure against the balls or bearings does not exert damaging pressure against the metallic parts whether constructed of sheet metal or cast and in addition the spacing of thebearings in the manner specified equalizes the pressure exerted by the movable part and thus permits the device to withstand a much greater strain.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim asnew and desire to secure'by' Letters Patent is 1", An; anti-friction door skid, comprising a. frame adapted to be mounted in a doorway and bearings on the face of the frame whereby when pressure is exerted against the frame it will be caused to contact with the door whereby said bearings will permit the door to be opened without: undue frict-ion,v

A The? combination with" a car having; a

doorway and asliding door cooperating therewith; of a frame fitted in the doorway, and bearing members carried by the frame to contact with the inner face of the door whereby the latter may be opened without undue friction when pressure is exerted'out ward against the door by the contents of the car.

3. An anti-friction door skid, comprising a frame, strips horizontally of the frame at spaced vertical intervals, bearings carried by the strips, and anti-friction members mounted in spaced relation in the bearings.

4. An anti-friction door skid, for freight cars, having sliding doors cooperating with the doorways thereof, a frame having ver tically spaced horizontal runners adapted to be disposed outward when the frame is inserted in a doorway of the car, guides secured to the runners, ball bearings carried by the guides, means to hold the balls at spaced intervals in the guides, and bearing strips on the inner faces of the doors for contact with the bearings, said frames being disposed between the load and the doors to permit opening of the latter without dif iculty.

5. An anti-friction door skid, comprising a frame, races fixed horizontally to the frame at spaced points vertically, and ball bearings mounted in the races.

6. An anti-friction door skid, comprising a frame, races fixed horizontally to the frame at spaced points vertically, and ball bearings mounted in the races, said races comprising metallic members having ball receiving portions encircling the balls more than 180 and having out-pressed parts at spaced intervals to receive and normally hold the balls against movement except under excessive pressure, whereby said balls will roll in the races.

7 The combination with a body adapted to receive a load and having a doorway; of a sliding door for said doorway, and means to permitopening of the door under outward pressure of the load in the body, said means comprising a supporting member fitted in the doorway and anti-friction memberscarried by said supporting member for disposal between the latter and the door and to contact with the inner face of the latter.

8. The combination with a body adapted to receive a load and having a doorway; of a sliding door for said doorway, and means to permit opening of the door under outward pressure of the load in the body, said means comprising a supporting member fitted in the doorway, runners horizontally of the support and spaced apart vertically, guides secured to the runners, said guides comprising sections of sheet metal to provide ball receiving portions and outwardly extending attaching portionssecured to the runners, stops at the ends of said guides, said guides being provided with stamped out portions bent inwardly to normally hold the balls against movement, and strips secured to the inner face of the body for contact by the balls when forced outward with the support, said balls being adapted to rotate and roll to permit free opening of the door.

9. The combination with a body adapted to receive a load, a slidable member to be forced against the body by the load; of an attaching strip carried by the slidable member, a bearing guide attached to the strip, said guide embodying a metallic part having a curved ball-receiving portion extending over an area greater than 180 and having oppositely extending flanged attaching portions for securing the same to the strip, and means at spaced intervals along the metallic part within the ball-receiving portion to normally hold the balls against movement but adapted to permit the same to turn and roll therefrom under the action of the slidable member exerting pressure thereagainst.

10. The combination with a support and a movable member adapted to exert pressure thereagainst; of anti-friction means carried by the movable member, said antifriction means comprising a bearing member formed of a section of sheet metal bent to provide a ball-receiving portion, and out wardly extending attaching portions, stops at the ends of said bearing member, and spaced tongues stamped out from the metal within the ball-receiving portions and bent inwardly to normally hold the balls against movement.

11. The combination with a stationary part and a part adapted to move relative thereto and pressably in contact therewith; of runners supported in spaced parallel relation on the stationary part, guides secured to the runners and comprising elongated members bent to provide ball-receiving portions and rebent to provide flanged attaching portions, means to secure said attaching portions to the runners, said guides being provided with stamped out portions bent inwardly in opposite directions to provide restricted channels, balls held in said channels, the ends of said guides being bent to prevent displacement of the balls, and engaging portions carried by the movable part to contact with the balls and cause the latter to turn and roll from the restricted channels when the movable part is shifted while exerting pressure against the balls.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

IRVING A. LAKE.

Witnesses:

EMILY L. LAKE, JOHN E. BUsOH.

G'opiee of thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner or I'atents,

Washington, D. G." 

